


the kind of trouble that you enjoy

by goldendoods



Category: Parks and Recreation
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Belligerent Sexual Tension, Ben Is Overwhelmed, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, Leslie is Extra, Pining
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-08
Updated: 2020-07-03
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:20:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25048297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/goldendoods/pseuds/goldendoods
Summary: As President of the Student Activities Committee, Leslie got great practice for leadership roles in the future. And honestly she had so many ideas, it was hard to keep up with them all. Plus everyone on the committee had known each other for so long that at this point, really, it was pretty much a well-oiled machine. (Pretty much.) The students had their meetings, Mr. Swanson had his free time, and everyone was happy.At least, that was how it was SUPPOSED to be.All the more reason it was stupid, as well as unfair, and nonsensical, and ANTIDEMOCRATIC, for some random new kid to join as Treasurer at the beginning of the school year.
Relationships: Leslie Knope/Ben Wyatt
Comments: 1
Kudos: 2





	the kind of trouble that you enjoy

**Author's Note:**

> IDK why this is the first fic I'm posting in literal years but all I can say is Parks is singlehandedly saving me from this trash year and also Adam Scott has got me feeling some kind of way so ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

**PART 1: FALL**

The whole thing was absolutely unfair, from the beginning.

“This whole thing is absolutely unfair,” Leslie said for the fourth time. Mr. Swanson looked unmoved, still. He was sitting behind his desk, giving her his most uncrackable, hard-ass “don’t start with me, Knope” look.

A lot of things were feeling quite unfair today, actually.

It was her Last First Day, a.k.a the first day of senior year, which she had been preparing for weeks, practically. She had it all planned out-- first day outfit laid out like every year; binders for every class color coded and syllabi filed, and her crown jewel: final finishing touches made to her presentations for the Student Activities Committee, with the accompanying brochure mockups printed. She barely slept last night in excitement.

And now, today is just turning into a huge pile of absolute trash. First of all, Ann was missing the first two days of school (WHY!!!), because of her family having last-minute changes of vacation plans, she was busy getting all golden-bronzed with her family in Florida, and wouldn't be back until Friday. So there went Leslie’s genius First Last Day care package (which would not at all be the same on Friday, no matter what Ann said). Then, the cafeteria had replaced the Sweetums vending machine with some suspiciously healthy looking protein bars (BARF!) so that was a no for breakfast.

For the record, she had been taking it all in stride. But this was the final straw.

“It doesn’t make sense!” She said again. Calmly. Because she was being calm, and not yelling, because she was a student leader, and mature, and did not yell. Anymore. Usually.

“Leslie, aren’t you always trying to get more students to join the committee? To be more--” he made a face like he had been force-fed a vegetable-- “socially involved?” (Mr. Swanson was notoriously anti-activities of all kinds. Which made it all the more unfortunate for him, therefore, to be the faculty head of the SAC.)

“Of course, we are always welcoming new members. We can’t just have a new member joining the SAC as an officer!” She says loudly. But not yelling. Just speaking in a calm, yet loud, voice.

“As I said. This student is transferring and he contacted me asking about running for Treasurer. Since the position is vacant,” he held up a hand as Leslie started to argue, “I told him he could just go ahead and take it.”

This made absolutely no sense, as Leslie pointed out (calmly!) They already had their elections in May, and the positions were taken, and it was absolutely too late for someone else to join.

Okay, yes, technically speaking, the Treasurer position was “vacant,” in that no one had run for that position last year, and okay, technically, so was Secretary, and actually every other officer position except President (which was Leslie’s role). And, fine, _technically_ , that was because no one else had run for any of the officer roles (despite her best persuasive efforts, and much to her chagrin). But Ann was unofficially Secretary/Event Planner (unofficially because she insisted she “just couldn’t commit to the time requirements being an officer, even though she really, really wanted to,” as she had assured Leslie). And Tom and Donna were unofficially Co-Social Media Heads (or, as they called it “Swag Expert” and “Chief Influencer,” respectively). And even though April refused to have any title, proclaiming it was against her anarchist beliefs, she usually helped out with event setups and fundraising ideas. And, as President , Leslie took care of pretty much everything else, including the budgeting. So really, there was no room for another officer.

“It’s unfair! It’s...it’s _antidemocratic_ , is what it is! We already had our elections, and someone can’t just be appointed arbitrarily--”

“You mean, how you appointed all your friends?” Mr. Swanson says wryly.

“Well--I-- Besides!” Leslie quickly changes tacts. “We’ve been brainstorming for the year all summer, practically. I've already done all the budgets for the whole semester. He would be going in completely blind. He’ll be way behind. I’m sure that would be overwhelming for him, and would just throw all my-- all _our_ plans completely off track.”

“I’m sure you’ll catch him up to speed.” Mr. Swanson turned to his lunch. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have three roast beef sandwiches waiting for me and I have already spent half my lunch break having this pointless argument.”

Leslie took a breath, ready to point out all the gaping holes in this logic, but Mr. Swanson was giving her that look that made it perfectly clear he wasn’t going to budge on this. So she closed her mouth, sighing deeply. Despite what she had been told (including by Mr. Swanson himself, a number of times), she actually did know when to quit, sometimes. And Mr. Swanson could be a real hard-ass when he wanted to be. It seemed like this was one of those times.

For the most part, Leslie and Mr. Swanson got along great. In fact, she figured he was pretty much the ideal teacher to be faculty head for the SAC. He taught Shop and was known for being intensely private, and not giving a flying fuck about...pretty much anything, as long as you left him alone. He was vocally against the policy that all teachers had to be faculty head for a club, and often explained he believed high school would be better if all clubs were disbanded. Therefore, it was an ongoing mystery that had yet to be solved (mostly because he refused to answer any questions about his life, ever) how he had ended up as the faculty head of the Student Activities Committee, of all things. Leslie had heard rumors that it had something to do with his ex-wife (the scary librarian that everyone said was a nympho) concocting some complicated revenge plot, but it was impossible to say how much of that was true.

Over the three years that she had been on the SAC, he and Leslie had come to an understanding. Despite their differences in beliefs about the utility of social events for students, it turned out they got along quite well. Mr. Swanson wanted to be left alone, and have as little involvement in the SAC as possible while still keeping his job. That was fine with Leslie, as it gave her and the rest of the SAC free reign to plan everything as they liked (and she had plenty of plans!) He preferred to be kept out of meetings and email chains and would only occasionally meet with them to approve any major events.

Since the Student Government had been virtually defunct before she even started at PHS (and no, she wasn't still bitter about it, really), this was the closest she could get. As President of the SAC, Leslie got great practice for leadership roles in the future. And honestly she had so many ideas, it was hard to keep up with them all. Plus everyone on the committee had known each other for so long that at this point, really, it was pretty much a well-oiled machine. (Pretty much.) The students had their meetings, Mr. Swanson had his free time, and everyone was happy.

At least, that was how it was SUPPOSED to be.

All the more reason it was stupid, as well as unfair, and nonsensical, and _antidemocratic_ , for some random new kid to join as Treasurer at the beginning of the school year. After EVERYTHING she had been planning. But she could tell from Mr. Swanson's absolute concentration on his lunch that this was one of the times he wasn't going to sway.

Goddamnit.


End file.
